Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to promote the benefits of membership of the Commonwealth to potential new members.

As Chair-in-Office, the UK is working with our partners to demonstrate the continuing relevance of the modern Commonwealth. This includes working with its three pillars - the Commonwealth Secretariat, the 53 other Member States, and its organisations and networks - to deliver on the ambitious commitments made during CHOGM 2018.

With the support of over £500m of UK programmes and projects, the Commonwealth has already made impressive progress on shared priorities, such as international trade, climate change and governance and rule of law. 31 Commonwealth countries are together now tackling marine plastic pollution, whilst over 3,000 women entrepreneurs across the Commonwealth have been supported to internationalise their businesses, and barriers to trade have been reduced.